Ginger Iced Tea

5 tea bags of your choice- green tea is nice.
1 quart of water
1-inch piece of fresh ginger

Slice ginger root into thin slices and crush. Heat 1 quart of water and let tea steep with the ginger over low heat for at least 10 minutes. Strain out tea and ginger slices and add sugar or honey or agave, if desired. Let cool and serve over ice with berries and maybe even peach slices.

Watermelon Lemonade

6 cups watermelon
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar or agave
1/2 cup lemon juice

Remove as many seeds as you can from the watermelon flesh. Place watermelon and water in a blender and blend until smooth. Strain liquid into a pitcher, along with sugar or agave and lemon juice. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Refrigerate until chilled. Serve with a lemon slice on the glass rim.

Lemon Verbena Refresher

½ cup fresh lemon verbena
½ a lemon
2 tbs simple syrup*
Club soda or mineral water

Muddle the lemon verbena, fresh lemon juice and simple syrup at the bottom of a tall glass. Then add the gin. Put crushed ice on top (this not only keeps it cold but also stops the leaves from getting in your mouth). Top off with club soda. Garnish with a slice of lemon.

* Simple Syrup:
2 parts sugar
1 part water

Bring the water to a boil. Dissolve the sugar into the boiling water, stirring constantly.
Once the sugar is dissolved completely, remove the pan from the heat. Do not allow the syrup to boil for too long or the syrup will be too thick. Allow to cool completely and thicken, then bottle and leave in the refrigerator.